During the months of March and April, Tokyo undergoes a transformation. Neighborhoods, rivers, parks, and temples become shrouded in white and pink. Cherry blossom season is, perhaps, a bit like our Christmas—a time in which people forget time, to soak in the sakura for a few blissful and carefree hours. Some do it by foot; others reserve spots in parks for cherry blossom parties, a.k.a. ohanami, for the perfect combination of food, drink, friends, and flowers. I tried both—after wandering from Yasukuni shrine to Kitanomaru park, I took a break and did my own small hanami (sitting on a rock near bicycles, with a convenience store lunch), during which I found out that watching people viewing the blossoms is just as fun as viewing the blossoms themselves.
Onae Parker is a linguistics and Japanese major at the University of Iowa. Winner of a 2018 Gilman International Scholarship award, she will be spending the semester in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the University of Meiji Exchange program.